Oh! Pleasant Hope
Oh! Pleasant Hope is the sixth studio album by San Fransisco hard rock group Blue Cheer. Released in April 1971 via Philips, this album drifted even further from the sounds established on the previous records and ultimately failed to even chart in the United States. For nearly twelve years it proved to be the band's final album as Blue Cheer would break up the next year, until several reformations and a reboot leading to the release of 1983's The Beast Is Back. Background Oh! Pleasant Hope was recorded in late 1970 presumably going into 1971, with the band adopting all sorts of guests and extra instruments. The sound of the record itself deviates more into folk rock and country rock than the previous two records, drifting away from even a hard rock or psychedelic sound. Like the previous two records, band founder Dickie Peterson's role in the release is questionable. Peterson only contributes vocals to three songs, songwriting credits to only the last track and with several other members playing bass it's questionable if he's even playing bass on the album. Another unusual aspect is that the song "I'm the Light" features extensive use of the sitar and synthesizer, although on the previous album The Original Human Being the song "Babaji (Twilight Raga)" also featured extensive use of the aforementioned instruments. Despite the drastic change in sound the album has attained positive reviews by various critics. Mark Deming of AllMusic gave the album 3 1/2 stars out of 5 with a description of "loose, laid-back, and playful; if it doesn't hit very hard, it's one of the most organic and natural-sounding recordings to carry the group's name."AllMusic Notorious rock critic Robert Christgau gave the album a B+.Rock Critics Archives The Portrait in Review Blog digs into the finer details of the album itself, describing it as a "lost gem" and "one that brings the pleasantries".Portrait in Reverb Tracklist *1. Hiway Man (Gary R. Grelecki, Norman Mayell, Gary Lee Yoder) (4:22) *2. Believer (Grelecki, Yoder) (3:41) *3. Money Troubles (Dr. Richard Peddicord) (4:02) *4. Traveling Man (Grelecki, Yoder) (3:10) *5. Oh! Pleasant Hope (Peddicord) (2:39) *6. I'm The Light (Kent Housman, Norman Mayell) (5:39) *7. Ecological Blues (Mayell) (2:26) *8. Lester The Arrester (Ralph Burns Kellogg) (3:02) *9. Heart Full of Soul (Dickie Peterson) (4:37) Personnel *'Dickie Peterson' - Bass, Lead Vocals (7 - 9) *'Gary Lee Yoder' - Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Harp, Lead Vocals (1 - 6) *'Ralph Burns Kellogg' - Organ, Piano, Synthesizer, Bass *'Norman Mayell' - Guitar, Sitar, Delruba, Drums *'Bob Gurland' - Mouth Trumpet *'Kent Housman' - Dobro, Backing Vocals *'Cynthia Jobse' - Harp *'Jim Keylor' - Bass *'Douglas Killmer' - Bass *'Jack May' - Guitar *'Dehner Patten' - Guitar *'Dr. Richard Peddicord' - Guitar, Vocals *'Ronald Stallings' - Saxophone *'William Truckaway' - Guest *'Des Strobel' - Art Direction *'Mark Harman' - Engineer *'George Horn' - Engineer, Remixing *'Eric Albronda' - Producer External Links *Oh! Pleasant Hope on Discogs References Category:Release Category:Studio Album Category:Blue Cheer Category:Dickie Peterson Category:Gary Lee Yoder Category:Folk Rock Category:Country Rock Category:Blues Rock